Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride was a very popular Vancouver jazz fusion ensemble in the mid 1980s, made up of Tom Colclough, Michael Creber, Ian Putz, Norm Fisher, Dane DeViller and Daryl Bennett and sometimes Bill Sample. They performed at Expo 86 and competed that year at the Montreal Jazz Festival, playing mostly original material. Bill Sample was the Toad’s keyboard player at the festival.

Although no studio recordings of Mr. Toad were published, Tom has kept some analogue tapes of live performances, mostly made at their Expo 86 appearance or the Sheraton Landmark. Paul Hood was the sound technician. Tom is currently transferring them to CD and mounting them on YouTube. Click the YouTube photo below to connect to Tom’s Toad Channel.

Here is one of the Toad tunes you’ll find there: Your Back Yard, written by Tom Colclough. Solos by Tom Colclough (alto sax) and Norm Fisher (bass).

Alternatively, you may find some Toad tunes on the playlist at the bottom of this webpage.